Future Warrior
by peekodemeeko12
Summary: A woman from the distant future in Jackie's old world comes to Wonderland and begins to set in place a spiral of events that make Jackie question everything in Wonderland and realize the lies she has been fed. What knowledge that Aria Hadron Scherzi has of Wonderland that could make Jackie's sanity dwindle to nothing at all?
1. Chapter 1

Jackie wiped her brow clear of sweat as she looked over the open control panel, trying to figure out what exactly is jamming the transmission of pressing the button to the ferris wheel from inside the booth. She let out a heavy sigh and sat down, poking around with the wiring and shelling some of the chewed wires and entwining the copper wire from within to form a connection. She hoped that this alone was the problem so that she wouldn't have to go out and spend some cash. Poor Gowland is already drowning in debt but it's his own fault for spending it all on useless crap rather than to the loan sharks or the Hatters. Ugh … idiot boss.

From the shadows, a perfectly concealed figure watched the park's engineer, waiting for the right moment to approach.

Jackie rubbed her tired eyes and finished with the wires, flicking the switch back on to the power grid before pushing the button. And again. And again.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH IT?!" She shouted, smacking the controls before getting control of her short, violent outburst. It's fine, it's fine I just need to figure out what the hell is wrong with it … wait … She looked out the window to the ferris wheel, trying to see if the cord at the center was properly connected. She grabbed some binoculars off the shelf and hopped outside, putting the binoculars to her eyes and searching for the connection point.

Oh I'm so stupid sometimes I should just lay down in a ditch and never crawl back out.

She set the pair of binoculars on the ground and trotted over to the ladder, swinging around and began her ascent to the platform where the main motor that turned the wheel around was. She bet that the problem lied in there and not the booth.

Unaware of the figure following her closely, Jackie went on…

She reached the top of the platform and clutched the railing tight as she walked over to the chest and flipped it open, setting the harness on herself and connected the cord to the rails. She thought she saw something small jamming the outside edge where the car is but that wouldn't affect the main motor. She'd have to look at the motor after she's cleared the car's hinge from whatever is making it tilt abnormally. After making sure the wind stopped she grabbed onto the large iron beam and began to more or less crawl to the car.

The figure skillfully went after her, careful to avoid being noticed in any way, climbing up to be in a better upper position without Jackie realizing there was someone else so close to her. Apparently he or she was an expert on such things.

Jackie slid onto the top of the car and got a better look at the metallic object. A … clock? How the hell did that end up here? She groaned. It must have been a stupid teenager and something led to something else and … I don't even want to think about it. She fixed her foot on the beam and on the cart, pushing with all her might to loosen the clock before quickly grabbing it and retreating back to the beam. And there we go, another clock for Julius.

She slipped the clock into her tool belt that hung like an X formation on her hips, slowly working her way back before a strong gust of wind whipped through the beams. She sucked in a startled breath and latched onto an upstanding beam, waiting for the gust to end before moving on. She needed to be more careful if she didn't want to fall. Chances were that she was going to knock her head against a beam if she made a clumsy mistake.

The figure loomed now over the engineer, careful to hide it's shadow with the wheel's carts.

Jackie paused, hearing the irritating squeaking of the hitch again. And again. And … ugh. She glared back at the car, slipping out an oiler and carefully slinking back to the car to oil up the squeaking hinges. The wind picks up again as she crawls on all fours to the edge and pumps oils into the gear, being cautious not to fall.

A sudden groaning of twisting metal catches her attention as the ferris wheel jerks to life, shaking the car she was on. The music began to play it's cheerful toon as the car tilts, nearly sliding Jackie right off the edge. Who turned it on-?! Her ankle twisted as she tumbled off the edge with a startled gasp.

She was going to fall, or she should have, but something caught the harnesses safe line, preventing her from falling to her doom. When Jackie looked up, she saw that the line hasn't been caught in something, rather it was being held by someone. The figure was cloaked completely. Jackie could only see that the person was wearing a bulky coat over a tactical vest, cargo pants full of gear and combat boots, but more strikingly, it was the gas face-mask that covered his or her face.

She had never seen anyone with gear like that in Wonderland, but it was not a good moment to consider that, because that person was holding her life in one hand.

"If I wanted to kill you I would let go. But I don't want you dead, I just want to talk." - The voice was digitally distorted, making it impossible to know the gender of the person. - "Will you talk to me once we get down from here? Preferably away from whoever turn this on just now?"

She stared at the person's mask, shocked and cautious at his or her appearance. "You … aren't from Wonderland." Jackie accused. There's no way someone from Wonderland would have a voice like that or clothes like that. "At least not from Heart Country." She said, waiting for the person to pull her back onto the ride but the stranger continued to hold her there.

"I'll show you. Trust me, you DO want to speak with me. But we must get out of here first, preferably with you in one piece." - The person then moved the line to make Jackie swing a bit, "so what will it be, a nice little chat or a panoramic view while falling?" The person sighed, "look, I don't really just want to talk. I could have killed you like 50 times today already if I wanted to. You left too many openings… can we at least get out of here before someone comes?"

" … uh … who are you?" She asked, a little more disturbed than trusting of this stranger. 50 times? Has this person been stalking me? Jackie considered her options, looking off to the side and noticing a figure dashing away. Was he the one who turned on the ride? But it looks like the power was cut off suddenly.

"You caught on quickly. I'm not from hearts… don't worry about that person. I saw him planning something and I cut off the power cord to prevent more damage. I promise Ill tell you more, but let's get back to the safety of land first…," the person looked at where the man had run off and something shone below the mask's visor, "let's do something… once we're down I'll let you see my face and you decide if you want to speak to me… yes, I said face."

" … alright, yeah. You a Role Holder?" She asked, trying to lean forward to steady herself. Relying on this person's strong arm was a bit of a long shot for her, particularly since the stranger could drop her at any time.

"You'll see when we get down, I'd show you my face right now but I'd have to let go of you for that!" It was clear that the stranger was getting exasperated, "I'm getting tired here. Just say yes or no."

"I just did." Jackie says, gripping the stranger's wrist. "Now pull me up. Please." She tacked on, thinking it was best not to piss off a Role Holder. Not all of them are initially friendly.

"As a mercenary, I'll account that as a formal deal," then the figure pulled Jackie up back into safety and step aside to let Jackie pass first, "after you. Please notice that I'm trusting you not to run away… although I could grab the safe line before you did."

Both climbed down, Jackie by the latter and the mysterious person somehow by the metal construction, keeping at a close distance from Jackie.

Jackie uneasily hopped onto the ground and unhooked her harness, tossing it into a crate near the ladder as she waited for the stranger to get down. She wasn't exactly sure what to say to him. "Who are you?" She asked, trying to get some distance between the two of them until she could at least see the stranger's face.

Without taking off the hood of the cloak, the person put it's hand over the mask and moved it to the back of the head. The arms position impeded Jackie from seeing the persons face until they were lowered down, showing something Jackie had not expected.

Jackie's surprised gaze was met by that of sharp olive green eyes over the pale skin of a young woman.

"I'm known here as Aria Hadron Scherzi and I'm the second foreigner." The voice was still digitally distorted, "now… will you speak with me?"

"Uh … yeah, you got my attention." Jackie said, shifting uncomfortably under her gaze. "Let's … just go to my apartment since you probably already know where it is." She started cautiously before grunting the last line, realizing if she was following Jackie for so long chances were that she knew where she lived.

"You mean my old room?" The person put the mask back on, "it's the place I stayed at the times I was here."

"You lived at the Amusement Park?" She asked, starting her way to the apartment and expecting the young woman to follow.

"No. I worked everywhere and stayed sometimes in the rooms they provided. Mostly I did my best to constantly move and not be such an easy target." They arrived at the apartment and Aria looked around- "It's practically the same. I bet you never found out the jornal I hid in the 3rd cabinet on the right with the general design of the central system for the electric distribution, and stuff like that"

" … Yeah I did, actually. I gutted the apartment and built it up." Jackie said, unlocking the door and let her inside the apartment.

"Well… sorry to tell you this but you did a plucky job. Everything looks the same… did you discovered the rest of the stuff?"

"That depends on how many there were." Jackie said, walking over to her drawer. She reached in and pulled out a few notebooks, setting them on the counter. "I figured whoever owned it last left these here and since I happened to have some extra room I just put them all together."

"And what do you think? weren't you ever curious as to who could have written those things? … specially because they are in spanish?" Aria said as she went to the windows to close them and be sure that no one had followed them, "I'd like to establish a perimeter, but sadly I can't right now. So lets talk, I have a few questions for you."

"Alright," Jackie agreed, also curious about this stranger. She, in truth, never bothered to look at the books since they weren't hers and her beginnings in Wonderland were rocky. After her engineering job took off she just forgot about them.

"Firsts questions: Where do you come from? What was the last date you remember? the year specifically, How did you arrived here?, How long have you been in Wonderland? What have the Role Holders told you about this place? have you met them all?" Aria looked slightly disturbed, as if the answers to those questions was of utter importance.

"America. The last date was … around 2012 I think," she said, unsure now. "Huh. I'm probably 18 or something by now. I haven't bothered to keep track of the date." She said, giving the math some thought before rolling over and giving up on it. It's not worth it. What's the point if I can't return?

"2012?... still under the gregorian calendar... " Aria's eyes tightened under the mask and her posture went tense "Which country, America? And the other questions please."

Jackie got the sense that there was something more to this questions…

"America is America. It's a little hard to explain it other than that." She bluntly said, "are you from the future?" She asked. Jackie has spoken to Alice before about home and the way she explained it, before getting a migraine, was strangely very old fashioned. She figured out at one point that Alice must have been from an earlier time though she wasn't sure when.

"America is a continent with more than 30 countries. I'm trying to pinpoint the position in relation that that of the country I was went I jumped into the hole. And no, I'm not from the future... you are from the past," Aria hesitated as if considering things. Her tone became dry - "I know it sounds strange, but trust me, there is a difference and a reason… you just confirmed it. Please answer the other questions."

" … ok? Well, anyway, I don't know how long I've been here for. I fell down a hole like Alice did … I think?" She trailed off, giving it some thought before an irritable headache throbbed in her head. Ouch. "I've met all the Role Holders and have fairly good relations with them all. Except Peter." She huffs.

"You speak english… So you are either from Canada or gringolan… USA"- She managed to correct herself but Jackie noticed it. "What have they told you about this place and about the game?"

"I'm from New York if that helps." She corrects. What in the hell is Gringolan? Just how far in the future is this girl? "Game? Well, that I'm next in line to start and when I fill this thing up," she says, pulling out her vial for Aria to see but keeps it out of her reach before safely putting it away, "I can go home." She says with longing and lingering sadness.

"Figures…," Aria seemed to sigh as she crossed her arms, "I should ask you what's the reason for you to want to go back and what you expect of the future back in our world before I tell you that everyone has lied to you about many things… like that you can actually go back any moment you want."

Jackie stayed in shocked silence, turning her gaze glimmering with hope in her eyes. "I can?" She whispers, taking a step towards her before her knees suddenly buckle along with a powerful migraine that stabbed into her head. "AHH!" She let out a sharp, short scream as she dropped to the ground, clutching her head as she rasped in her horror. It hurts-! And then, without warning, she collapsed onto the ground, completely out.

"Nightmare… "Aria growled and went to Jackie's side, pulling her up and dragging her to the bed. She then wrote a couple notes. She left one for Jackie to find and lead her to the other one that she put inside the books on the counter. Then she left the place before anyone arrived. Jackie had screamed loudly and Nightmare now knew about her, which meant that very soon, at least Grey would be on her trail. It wouldn't be the first time she dodged the Role Holders, but this time she wasn't even sure she wanted too.

Maybe it was truly for the best that they had forgotten about her. But still it felt…. and that was the problem. She felt. And she should be incapable of such. She needed more information. But she also needed to speak with Jackie again on another occasion and make sure that they were not interrupted. And one of the best ways to achieve that was give Jackie the potion candies that had blocked that kind of influence from Nightmare.

When Joker showed her what he'd done to Alice to traumatize her so, Aria had seen that those candies prevented Nightmare to act on her outside of dreams. However acquiring them would be tricky. And she just wasn't going to go and present herself to her best pal Joker just like that. She wasn't sure she could face him… or anyone. Not yet in any case. Not until she was more sure of herself.

She scurried away undetected, thinking that as a thank you, she could give Jackie information in return if she considered that to be a good idea once Nightmare wasn't meddling in this foreigner affair… Or maybe she could give misinformation. That was a good option too.


	2. Chapter 2

AS A DISCLAIMER chaos-dark-lord wrote this with me. We are cowriting this series so enjoy the twisted madness :3

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><p>Jackie mindlessly trotted through town with a heavy bag of new parts for the ferris wheel. Something was off with it, nothing too major but some idiot cut the power cord so now she got to spend the rest of her day shelling the wires and entwining them together. She grunted in annoyance and trudged on, feeling her arms tremble from the heavy bags.<p>

"Hey Jackeline!" From the shadows of an alley Jackie saw a weird figure clad in dark tactic gear. The figure seemed familiar but something was blocking her thoughts and she could feel a headache coming on. Then the figure moved the gas mask aside to show her face and motioned for Jackie to follow her.

… _uh, no. _Jackie turned and kept walking, keeping in the more crowded areas of the sidewalk. She knew better than to follow a stranger into some dark alley.

A couple blocks away Jackie had practically forgotten about the stranger when an explosion went off nearby, making people scatter around because that meant that a shooting was about to start. Despite her tiredness, Jackie's fingers tightened as she ran into a side street to get a away from the bullets that would be flying. When she was in a smaller street someone grabbed her from behind and forced something sweet in her mouth before passing his or her hand over Jackie's throat to force her to swallow.

Her nails immediately dug into the attackers arm, using her tongue to block the back of her throat and pin the candy precariously near her throat. What in the hell-?!

"I'm just trying to prevent Nightmare from blocking your memory Jackie!" The person said with a digital distorted voice and dug her fingers at the base of Jackie's jaws to force her to open her mouth. "You would remember the other foreigner from last night but Nightmare is blocking things from you! Don't force me to take more drastic measures! Don't you wanna go back to New York?!"

Jackie's head slipped out of the attacker's arms for a brief moment without even listening to the persons digital voice. The sharp edges of the metal clad arms scraped up her face and ears as she heavily breathed, stumbling back and glaring at the stranger before spitting out the candy. She wobbled on her feet, disorientated for a moment as she got a handle on the situation. _Was I just jumped? Crap! Oh to hell with it, those parts were cheap anyway._

Jackie turned around and took off running, seeing that her attacker was wearing straight a heavy coat and tactic clothes that barely let her see the armor underneath. There's no way she could beat those defenses without getting really hurt and if that person had armor like that Jackie bet she would have scary weapons too. Is it one of Griffin's? He's the only one she could imagine that would have armor period on his men. -

"Maldición Jackeline! Tu me obligaste!" The person chased after Jackie with a speed that shouldn't be possible for someone wearing something that looked so heavy. Very soon, the person was getting close to Jackie, almost a couple steps away, and Jackie knew that it wasn't a good idea to let the person grab her. -

Jackie made a sudden turn into the street and sprinted down the sidewalk, praying she'd run into a Role Holder or better yet, Gray. If she stayed near the explosion sight he'd show up pretty soon. Jackie sprinted past a bunch of boxes and grabbed some of the heavy crates, throwing them over top of her pursuer before taking off like her life depended on it. -

The pursuer jumped to the wall and ran a couple steps over it to bypass the crates, and then used the impulse to jump to intercept Jackie, but the engineer did a jump of her own to the side and saw that the person's palm was open just where she had been a second before. The palm of the glove was tick, as if there was something below, and that was probably very bad. This stranger was persistent, and she could ponder why that digital voice was familiar later, because soon she'd be where the explosion happened.

Jackie ran into the street where the smoke was coming from and luckily for her, Gray was there. When he saw her running frankly towards him he looked behind her and to the side street she had come from. His eyes widened and he ran towards the place

"Stay here Jackie!" He told her as he passed by her side. Jackie turned to see if her pursuer was still there but only saw the tail of the strangers jacket disappearing behind a building. _W-What the hell? Who was that person and why were they chasing me?_

10 minutes later Grey was back and his gaze looked hard, troubled even.

"Did you get the person?"- Jackie asked. The waiting time had served her to analyze her little encounter and all the person said. _Such a weirdo … hope I never have to see that person again. _

"Don't worry about it Jackie," he responded, short and curt.

After that, Grey offered to escort her to the amusement park. Jackie followed Gray, knowing that his presence alone should scare off the attacker. When she got to her apartment she thanked Gray and went inside.

Jackie opened the door of her apartment and closed the door with a sigh. Just to be safe she put on the double lock, and once she did so, she felt herself being pinned against the wall with force by a hand on her neck. Jackie's heart leapt into her mouth as she craned her head back, seeing her attacker standing in her house and pinning her to the wall like all those horror movies she saw growing up as a kid.

"I can electrocute you. Don't move." A digital distorted voice growled and Jackie knew that this was the same person from earlier that day. And if this person had escaped Gray, then he probably was someone dangerous and skilled who would not hesitate to do as he said.

"Get the hell off me-!" She snarled, pushing back against her slowly and steadily, afraid that any sudden movements might encourage the person to attack her.

"Look. Nightmare is going to intervene and make you forget again. I rather avoid having to do presentations once more," the person charged more weight onto Jackie and prepared to act.

"I said _get the hell off!_" Jackie snapped, whipping her elbow around and catching the attacker in the temple through the helmet he was wearing.

The person grunted and smacked the palm of his hand on Jackie's back; an electric current strung the engineer and Jackie was immobilized as if she had been struck by a taser. She let out a scream as her muscles locked up, making movement impossible for her.

Jackie was temporarily paralyzed as the person moved behind her. She only heard something small hitting the floor behind them before she was tossed around to face the person with awful rudeness. Jackie was stricken by HER. The mask had come off from Jackie's attack and now she could see the attacker's face and the annoyance in her olive green eyes. She was definitely a girl; a girl that didn't waste time and kissed her to pass some sweet liquid into her mouth, using her hand over her throat again to force her to swallow, this time managing so.

"Gack-!" Jackie gagged and tried to shove her away, feeling the liquid sliding down her throat.

The seconds of paralysis ended and Jackie tried hitting the person in the stomach but she hit solid armor, almost immediately, the pain of her self inflicted pain was blurred by a bunch of images and memories coming back to her as if some mist had been dispelled from her mind.

Aria's face flashed in her mind as she sucked in a startled breath, remembering everything that's happened with meeting Aria before and then suddenly having a powerful headache swing her way and she … fell unconscious.

Jackie was against the floor on her knees, panting. It took her a minute to notice that a glass of water was being offered to her. "Aria?" She looked at the empty bottle in the floor, "what did you give me?"

"Finally…" the other foreigner said with a tint of exasperation in that digital voice, "I just gave you the potion that cuts off Nightmare's abilities to mess at a distance with your mind and a couple other things. I tried to give you the candy nicely, y'know?" The armored woman was apathetic, "then the explosion worked but you had to go and force me to be more forceful."

"W-Wait, you were the one that caused the explosion?" Jackie asked, suspiciously glancing at the water and weighing her options.

"I had to. I was easier than assaulting you on the street. That would have gotten people killed," Aria was emotionless in this, however she noticed Jackie's gaze on the glass, "don't worry. It's just water. If I wanted to kill you or anything I would have done so days ago. Now can we speak up? Now that Nightmare is not meddling you can get more input into the game and your life here. Did Gray say anything?"

"Say? No, he didn't say anything. Why, does he know you?" She asked, taking a cautious sip of the water. If this girl wanted to hurt her she could have done so a while ago. Multiple times. "And what are you talking about Nightmare meddling?" She asked, curious.

Aria sighted and sat down on the floor near Jackie's but still away enough to act if she needed. She looked down to the ground before answering, "they all know me. I was here for months even before you came, more precisely the months they can't remember. In fact, the game currently going on is not Alice's, it's mine. I am the current "star". But my case is different than Alice's or yours. They wished for a foreigner that was different from Alice because they didn't want to be remembered that they had lost her game," Aria then seriously looked at Jackie, "and they had a lot to answer to you. Nightmare has been blocking your memory and mind so that they have another chance at a game. Now you'll be able to remember... if you want."

"Lost her game?" Jackie breathed, bothered by her word choice, "How is it possible for her to lose the game? She's still here," Jackie pointed out.

The armored girl shook her head, "Alice didn't lose the game. All the Role Holders except for Blood did. Blood is the one who 'won' Alice's game when she decided to stay with him and accept his connector; while I won mine by other situations. However 'win' is a very relative term and some might say that everyone merely lost in my game."

" … so, win as in that the foreigner won. And that would make the other Role Holders lose the game?" She asked, puzzled by her explanation. Wait, that doesn't sound right. How could they lose the game?

"No. Win is when Wonderland wins, and Wonderland wins when a foreigner decides to stay, normally so by choosing a Role Holder to stay by his side. This world wants foreigners to be happy because such happy and nice emotions power up this world. Or at least they were the only thing that did before I came along," Aria's words were clear yet mysterious, "the Role Holders lose the game because they lose the foreigner," her expression was unreadable, making Jackie uneasy, "Can you please tell me about you? A bit of yourself before you came here, how did you arrived into Wonderland, what your experiences had been like…. everything please."

Jackie sat in stunned silence for a little bit, rethinking everything Aria just told her. Jackie had suspected there was something deeper to this 'Wonderland' but never looked into it too much. It was just a place for her to live out until she was able to go back home. _So how in the hell could it all seem so complicated?_

Jackie took a deep breath and began her story when Peter had abducted her so that Alice would have a bit of foreign company. How she had being given the potion of hearts and how she had ended up as the park's engineer. During her retell of things Aria had remained with a poker face and had just interrupted to ask seemingly unimportant questions not directly regarding her but like: "Which territory did you landed?", "Have you experienced a land move?", "How did the holders act during last event". But Jackie was suspecting than Aria's inquires were related to all she hadn't told her yet.

After Jackie finished telling the other girl about her adventures in this world, Aria got up and put her hand on her chin seemingly thinking about it. "That should be all. Thank you Jackie. What questions do you have? Just be mindful that I will answer honesty to exactly what you ask."

"Good hell where do I even begin?" Jackie breathed, running a hand through her hair, "ok, ok just generalize everything you just said but just the parts pertaining to me getting back to my home," Jackie said, still struggling to wrap her head around everything, "and dumb it down a little more for me."

Aria opened her mouth to say something, but suddenly, her gaze hardened and she went to the back of the room to the bathroom. "Don't tell anyone of me but ask them questions. I'll catch up with you later!" Then she opened the window and grabbed the pipe outside to slid down to the floor and disappear in the shadows of the night.

Jackie was left with her mouth open when half a minute later someone knocked at her door. She went to answer, "who is it?"

"Good night Jackie! It's just me, Boris"

" … you came just to say good night?" She repeated, annoyed at his ignorant stupidity that chased that other girl off. Ugh I wanna kill him … she paused as he lifted his head into the air a bit, sniffing the air. He leaned in towards Jackie, sniffing her a little bit in confusion.

"Uh, something wrong?" She asked, pushing his head away.

"Yeah. What smells? It's … weird, but familiar." He said, stepping past Jackie and sniffing around where Aria was standing. "It's almost like a machine… no. It smells like the air before a storm and a bit of metals and plastics?... Ozone? Technology?"

Jackie was surprised that Boris knew what ozone was, or at least what it smelled like. However he did seem to recognize the smell, "and where have you smelled this, Boris?"

"Huh … not sure," he said, looking all around the room now as he tried to find the location of this odd smell. His ears perked constantly and his tail lashed one side to another. He seemed either distressed or very interested. Probably both.

"Boris, get out. I want to sleep." Jackie was getting very suspicious of the Role Holder and this world. Aria was a strange woman but she was a foreigner too, right?

"But Jackie, this smell is… I don't know, but it seems important," Boris protested Jackie pushing him outside.

"I don't care. It was a hard day and the explosion and chase in town didn't help. I'm tired. Now out! good night," she finally sent him outside and closed the door behind him. He sometimes was just so nosy…

She sighed and went to take a bath before she went to sleep. This was getting too strange and Aria's words just raised far more questions than answers. Next time she saw the other girl she'd have her questions ready for the other female.

Still, there was something more than weird about Aria. It was not the armor. Seriously, who would blame her for wearing protection in a world where everyone shot first and the minimum chance? No. It was something about her that just seemed off. Why was she staying clear of the Role Holders and how did she knew all she claimed to know? She also had said that she was the culprit of that explosion but she had done so to avoid casualties, yet she hadn't hesitate to attack and even electrocute her. Well, she hadn't cooperated but that was to be expected. yet Aria had been totally cool all the time. And why didn't anyone remembered her?

Jackie wondered if it would be fine to trust her.


	3. Chapter 3

Somewhere in an abandoned warehouse in clover, a lone and paranoid mercenary woman had finished setting up a detection perimeter and a few possible escapes routes around the hidden apartment room she had in the place from before she disappeared from everyone's memories.

"At least this time I'm not hobbo-ing around," she said as she carefully took off her armor in order to take a bath in the shower cabin installed there and get some needed rest.

Getting Jackie to drink that potion had been bothersome but necessary and now she had some answers that had only served to formulate more questions. In truth she didn't need more information from Jackie at the moment, she knew enough about her and from her to calculate possibilities and scenarios. However it would only be fair that she responded her questions in response. Even if those led Jackie to her death. When Aria said 'just be mindful that I will answer honesty to exactly what you ask' she had given enough warning. As the saying went, 'Be careful what you wish for'.

However, she still needed to decide what to do now. She couldn't exactly just appear before the Role Holders or her faceless faction if they didn't remember her. That wouldn't be fair to them and it was potentially very dangerous for her, especially after all she had done and caused.

She grabbed the meager dinner that she had managed to get by buying incognito in one of those rundown stores that served for drug dealing, and took a bite. As she ate, her hand was shaking and general indecision filled her. Her mind was in turmoil and she was very much aware of it.

Back in Diamond, when she had fought the Jabberwocky, she had learned the truth. The terrible truth that she was as good as dead in her world. The truth that her madness running towards her own death had been in vain.

She closed her eyes, remembering that awful time.

_She was at the taloned feet of the Jabberwocky in utter and complete defeat. Everything was over and it was pointless to go back to her world. There was nothing to go back to but to the death she had already accepted and started. She now knew the truth and it hurt._

_She remembered. Back in her world time after her partner and lover's death._

_It had been a little after her encounter with some revolutionaries when she had been close to her destination. She had been caught into a big combat where she had to fight with all she had to survive and get out of there. She had gotten out alive but she had been wounded and exposed to the attention of a hidden nearby compound from of an "independent development firm" that manufactured Bio Organical Weapons and cybernetic arms and equipment; they had seen her and she had been submitted and captured easily._

_Of course she was an oddity and a great finding to study and improve for them. They had tested and experimented on their new found doll and had made some enhancements, and she had let them because she was curious too and wanted to see what improvements could be done to her body. Bio-mechanical integration, molecular genetic and chemical restructure… _

_All the time she had been conscious of everything and in constant sync with the instruments nearby with the side effect of eroding parts of her psyche persona, seeing it from the devices around. She had the power to get free any moment she desired without them even noticing. However, she sickly decided to allow such bio-mechanical research to continue upon her until she considered it was time to get going when they were talking about ovule extraction and alternative reproduction methods she had gotten out, with all due violence. _

_She had fought her way out of the facility destroying it in the process by taking control of all the systems and even a combat Mecha 'titan', an armored combat unit in testing phases like the tripulated robots from the anime´s she had liked when younger. A combat prototype that would have been sold in the war to all sides. And she had made sure that no one got away to tell the tale or continue researching when she released the neurotoxins in all the facility._

_At that point she wasn't a person anymore, human only in the general form. She was but the remembrance of her self imposed mission, and it, her main prerogative was still standing and the nuclear launch site was only a few days away._

_After that, and because if things could go wrong they would, or so said an unspoken universal law. She had been trapped in the middle of a battlefield near her destination for the control of the not secret anymore missile´s silo. She had barely gotten out that alive thanks to the Mecha but her wounds were extensive already when she managed to infiltrate in the site. There were no supplies nor anything left, probably not even much of herself either. No personality or sense of self, just a mission she had to complete no matter how hurt she was, no matter if her arms was ripped apart, if her spine was damaged or if she had internal bleeding. She didn't have any sensibility of any kind so that was irrelevant._

_Like a programed machine she had made her way towards the controls and there she synchronized with all the "skynet" nuclear network. She destroyed all digital safes, eroded all passwords and activated all controls. The bombs were activated in their silos or launched towards their international targets._

_It was about to end. She was closing her eyes and drifting into a last dream like state, probably the moment Wonderland had been waiting to get her since she had not indulged into a dream trance since she passed by the entrance to this world years ago. That time she had indeed jumped in the hole in the ground, but there were no files about that in her records, she had been conscious, so maybe there hadn't been a way for the entrance to let her in, but it undoubtedly had taken notice of her and had waited till it could drag her there._

_Wonderland had taken her back to the moment in her past when she was happier, or rather, before the moment where any happiness was utterly impossible when things got critically bad._

_The Jabberwocky had released her own files for her and she knew that If she drank the potion of hearts and went back it would be for naught, she was a couple minutes at best from the epicenter of a nuclear blast. Her body, including all the enhanced cybernetics was too damaged and her conscious had been about to shut down permanently. She was dying._

_There she had been, in the floor of the patio in the castle of Diamond, below the terrible dragon, all her will had been snuffed and all hope had been eroded. She didn't notice the Jabberwocky smirking in satisfaction; she didn't notice the hurried dozens of steps running towards her location because she was deaf to the looming screams around as much as to every other sound. She was cut off from anything and everything, just her knowledge of the truth was there with her. She was as good as dead, she should have been dead for months and all her time in Wonderland, all the preparations for 'anything that would help her back in her world to achieve her goal' was pointless._

_The fight was over. Her fight was over. The nukes had been delivered and millions were dead or about to die in seconds, and those were the fortunate ones. The unfortunate ones would have to live in the after effects. The destruction had been great and she knew the implications. The entire economic system of the world would collapse, entire economic blocks and their countries would be shattered. But all that would save the rest in the long run, it had been a trade from total destruction to heavy focused annihilation._

_And her… she shouldn't be alive, that was not meant to be. It wasn't fair! It should have been over already! It had ended and there was no reason for going on, she had no reason to fight anymore…_

_A steady but silent flow of tears ran at the corners of her eyes and along her cheeks without her noticing, her arms were limp by her side. There was nothing else to do. It was over. Her duty was done and she had finished too. She was going to die here anyways, so why bother …_

Her eyes finally opened, dispelling the darkness replaying the scene in her head. She finished her dinner and prepared to sleep. Her thoughts, however, remained lively in her mind.

At the end of that fight she had found a reason to fight. She had come to like this world and it's inhabitants, and she didn't want the dragon to destroy them. She had gotten up and with the help of the faceless faction, the Role Holders and even Alice, she had faced the Jabberwocky and they had defeated it but she had been thrown into the lost country of Spades.

The place was dead, but there…. there… she couldn't remember. She only knew that she had made a deal with Wonderland in order to restore spades and that the real Jabberwocky, the first role, had done a deal with her to be able to have a holder. She knew that she had sacrificed her vial and that it had shattered, but somehow it was undamaged and empty again, and she knew that her mind had almost been lost, but she didn't knew how that was avoided.

And for the time being she wanted to avoid it because she didn't want to be reminded of the nightmares realm. She shuddered. When she had woke up she had been assaulted by the visions of the worst moments of her life. The hunger and poverty of her world mixed with its blood lust, greed and decadence. The most inhuman missions she had performed and her own unavoidable dead. Her lover is dead. The nuclear dawn she had caused to prevent a total nuclear annihilation … she gulped. She had been shown also all she had done here…

She was actually glad that she couldn't hold emotionally to anything. She wouldn't have survived if she cared. She didn't want to care.

And somehow she had survived. Somehow she was still alive, even if she hadn't done so unscratched or undamaged. And she was feeling uncertain. And that was the problem, that she was 'feeling', and she shouldn't be able to. It was scary, but it should go away soon. It ought to!

She didn't know what she was going to do now. Her files were a mess, a broken puzzle that would take time to stabilize enough to be analyzed. But it all went back as to why was she alive? She was not useful to this world like any other foreigner. She couldn't keep the long term emotions called feelings. So if she couldn't 'love' then her game couldn't end. And by all she had discovered that was an inconvenience to Wonderland that should have kicked her back to her world to face her death.

More so, there was already a new foreigner. But why? Or rather why was she still here when Jackeline Penski had come around?

The answer probably was there with Jackie.

But for now her process capabilities were not in a good state and trying to process data could produce unreliable results. She had to observe, test and, if needed, experiment on Jackie. But above all, she had to be very careful that the Role Holders don't find her, not yet. That would be easy when she arrived into this world she had been under their radar for weeks and had only met them when she decided so. And now that she had added all the tricks and items from this world to her arsenal it would be even easier. Besides, why bother to let them know she was around?

They don't remember her anyways.

* * *

><p>Jackie found herself floating in the middle of nowhere and recognized the place as the dream realm. <em>Nightmare?<em>

"Good night to you too Jackie," Nightmare appeared right in front of her and he looked both eager and distressed, "but of course I am. How could I not be when there is another foreigner around. Two foreigners are almost unheard of, but three?"

"Yeah it's weird. Hey, Nightmare," she said, thinking back on Aria's words, "have you been messing with my memories?"

"Such a foreigner is… strange. Yet she is indeed familiar," Nightmare admitted and then added to himself, "yet why can't I notice her dreams? Is she really a foreigner?"

The ruler of clover would have to confirm if any of the Role Holders had died. There was always the possibility that someone was trying to pass as a foreigner. He'd have to ask the clock master.

"You can't? Why not?" Jackie asked, shocked that there was a person other than Gray who was able to bypass Nightmare's mindreading or drop in's in dreams.

"Did you notice anything strange about her?" Nightmare instead asked, now looking to get some answers.

"Uh, not really," she lied and Nightmare immediately saw through that, "Well, she had multiple shades of blond and a really long braid at the base of her nape if that helps. She sounded … mechanical, digitized. Hardly human." Jackie then remembered the strange attire the other woman wore, it had look out of some sci-fi movie.

Nightmare decided to check for himself and intruded in Jackie's thoughts. There he did saw the other girl, but there was more than one thing off. This person looked very surrealistic yet Jackie had seen her clearly. However, the circumstances when Jackie had seen here had not being ideal. The first time she had been highly tired and overworked. The second time when the explosion hit in that street in Clover the person that had attacked her had made her eat some weird candy or at least had tried to. Maybe Jackie did see a bit of it whatever it was. And then she had been given potion... So Jackie hadn't seen this person under normal circumstances, and had seen her face only after ingesting something weird...

"Nightmare stop that!" - Jackie exclaimed while taking her hands to her head at the headache he was giving her. Jackie wobbled on her feet, feeling the world around her slowly disappearing.

"When you wake up you should go to the infirmary and check for drugs or poisoning, Jackie." Nightmare warned before letting her go, allowing her to fade back into her own mind for the night.

There was also the issue that if there was another foreigner they would that game. And it was not possible that Alice's game was over. They would have sensed the moment Blood gave her his connector and she accepted it, effectively ending her game. Even if it had happened during those months before the storm they couldn't remember. Blood probably would, and that man would surely made a big show of it and Alice would know it. So that was ruled out.

The most logical conclusion was that someone had targeted Jackie and she had been drugged and had hallucinated things, giving this mysterious person the advantage over her to manipulate her as she pleased. If this continued … Jackie could potentially be infected with the madness.

Nightmare was back in his office pondering on the recent turn of events when Grey came in with freshly brewed coffee. After taking a sip of the wonderful beverage he decided to have Gray check it out just in case. It wasn't really important, any group targeting a foreigner would be killed very soon by either any Role Holder or by the factions fighting against one another. The person that Jackie had seen was probably dead already, "did you found the culprit for the explosion, Gray?"

"No. And I didn't found whomever attacked Jackie either," Gray looked bothering at someone escaping him, "but it's probably people from the same group"

"You don't think that it could have been the same person?" Nightmare asked, sounding troubled.

"It's not impossible but it's highly unlikely," Gray wasn't exactly happy that he had ended up empty handed.

"I see. Check it out just in case," Nightmare nodded and dismissed the issue. Nightmare would have to warn a few Role Holders particularly close to Jackie to keep an eye on her.

Jackie woke up with a headache and decided to go to the parks medic. What Nightmare said bothered her. Getting drugged? No, she wasn't 'hallucinating' anything. She needed to check on her 'drugged' mind or at least get some Aspirin before going to check the Ferris Wheel.

However, she noticed that meeting Nightmare in her dream had felt slightly different. She couldn't say exactly how it was different but he was obviously more intrusive and didn't take into account the forced mind reading. Why had he done that instead of asking her first?

"You are working much too hard and it's probably exhaustion taking it's toll. Do be careful," the doctor instructs as Jackie rubbed her head.

"Yeah, yeah," she agreed, planning to get back to work as soon as the doctor left; and maybe after a quick nap. A knock at the door caught their attention.

"Sir? There was an incident with the tea cup ride. Nothing serious but they want a doctor's approval," the woman said.

"Ah, alright," the doctor said, giving Jackie a slip to prove her tiredness to Gowland. Well, she already had a number of vacation days since she allowed them to build up over time.

"Let me guess. Nightmare intruded in your dreams last night. What happened?" Aria's voice asked. Jackie jolted, startled and whipped her head around to see Aria.

"Aria? What's going on?" Jackie asked, relaxing a little bit but still seeming somewhat tense.

"I assume that Nightmare tried to make you forget," Aria said, wavering off the wall, "now… you had some questions, right?" The girl sighed through the digital distortion, "I will answer, but before that I want you to tell me why you want to go back to our world and what awaits you there to be so important that you can't find it here."

"Why? Because … it's my home." Jackie said, puzzled as to why Aria was asking her that.

"Is it?"- Aria tilted her head.

Jackie stayed quiet for a moment, "it is," she said, wondering why Aria was asking her that. Aria remained silence for a few seconds, absorbing Jackie's answer.

"Sorry, I guess I forgot what a home is. So you had a house and family and everything, right? what I meant was… what are you going back to?" She asked, trying a different angle in asking.

Jackie stayed quiet. Her family was a broken mess. Her job was on the verge of collapsing. And she still wanted to go back?

"Yes, yes Aria it's my home! That's why I want to go back!" Jackie cried, hopping to her feet and getting a little angry why she was asking her all of this. But deep down, she knew she was arguing because she herself didn't know. Even if she returned home chances were she was missing for months. She would have no job. Her mother was probably in the luny house as it was.

But she refused to accept it.

"I don't get why you keep questioning me, Aria," Jackie say, turning her back to her and pacing a little bit, grabbing at straws as to what she could use that was the truth, "and after I answer a question once you don't need to keep pushing it. I need to go home because it's my home. It's where I grew up. And-,"

"Jackie? Sweetie, who are you talking to?" Gowland asked, standing at the door after watching the young woman rant for a minute or two to think air. Jackie's head popped up, eyes wide as she spied Gowland before whipping her head around and seeing Aria gone. Oh well that's just great she's been talking to nothing but air.

" … go get some rest, sweetpea. The heat is probably getting to your head," Gowland suggested.

"Chu… Jackie! Are you alright?" Pierce had to come in at the moment after Gowland.

"She just needs rest," Gowland said with worry, "you've been working too hard, Jackie. Remember that vacation you didn't want to take last month? I think it's a good moment for you to take it, in fact I'll give you some extra days," then, he made a pose with crossed arms that obviously meant that he wasn't taking no for an answer, "I insist darling."

"I don't need it. I'm just tired," Jackie said, rubbing her forehead before glancing at him, " … fine," she heavily sighed. "Maybe a break is what I need."

* * *

><p>Oh ho ho~ what could happen next? <span><em><strong>5 REVIEWS<strong>_ for the next chapter :3


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